State Senate Rejects Bill to Legalize Oklahoma Sports Betting
On Wednesday, the state Senate rejected a bill that would legalize Oklahoma sports betting, which would have been operated by the state’s Native American tribes.
The failed bill to legalize Oklahoma sports betting
The bill in question, HB 1047, lost by a vote of 27-21. The bill, proposed by Senator Bill Coleman and Rep. Ken Luttrell, was recently amended after failing in the Senate last year. The amendments would allow retail and mobile sports betting, with 8% of the tax revenue going to the state.
HB 1047 was backed by the state's tribes, the public universities, and the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.
The arguments
Coleman is an adamant supporter of legalizing sports betting in the state and told the Senate that prediction market platforms are available in the state. However, because they are federally regulated, the state does not receive any tax benefits, which it would with legal sports betting. In the hearing, he stated, “It does not create a new avenue of gambling. You can legally make a sports bet right now, and it's unregulated, and we get nothing.
"This bill contains a regulated alternative to legal sports betting with platforms who are very concerned about problem gaming.”
Opponents of the bill, some of whom spoke on the Senate floor, said their main concern was that legal sports betting would increase gambling addiction throughout the state.
After the vote was finalized, Coleman spoke to the Senate and urged them to reconsider legal sports betting in the future. In a press release, a Coleman spokesperson wrote that the bill could be voted on again in the Senate. However, for that to happen, Coleman would need to procure the required votes in his caucus.
The Senate is not the final straw
Even if the Senate passes a bill to legalize sports betting in Oklahoma, it could face additional hurdles. The bill would also have to be supported by Gov. Kevin Stitt, and given his stance, he likely would have vetoed it. While he supports legalizing sports betting in Oklahoma, he prefers a free market rather than tribal control. He has opposed sports betting bills multiple times and has stated that granting the tribes sole authority over sports betting constitutes a monopoly rather than a free market, which he favors.
Under the State Tribal Gaming Act of 2004, tribes control the sports betting industry and pay state fees, such as the 8% tax revenue proposed in HB 1047.
Just days before the Senate vote, a governor's spokesperson told a local TV station, “Governor Stitt has been clear that he will only support a free market approach to sports betting in Oklahoma. No legislation has reached his desk yet, so we won’t comment on specifics of pending legislation.”
